Google Accused of Creating Spy Tool To Squelch Worker Dissent (bloomberg.com) 57
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Bloomberg: Google employees are accusing the company's leadership of developing an internal surveillance tool that they believe will be used to monitor workers' attempts to organize protests and discuss labor rights. Earlier this month, employees said they discovered that a team within the company was creating the new tool for the custom Google Chrome browser installed on all workers' computers and used to search internal systems. The concerns were outlined in a memo written by a Google employee and reviewed by Bloomberg News and by three Google employees who requested anonymity because they aren't authorized to talk to the press.
The tool would automatically report staffers who create a calendar event with more than 10 rooms or 100 participants, according to the employee memo. The most likely explanation, the memo alleged, "is that this is an attempt of leadership to immediately learn about any workers organization attempts." A representative for Alphabet Inc.'s Google said, "These claims about the operation and purpose of this extension are categorically false. This is a pop-up reminder that asks people to be mindful before auto-adding a meeting to the calendars of large numbers of employees." The extension was prompted by an increase in spam around calendars and events, according to Google. It doesn't collect personally identifiable information, nor does it stop the use of calendars but rather adds a speed bump when employees are reaching out to a large group, the company said.
The tool would automatically report staffers who create a calendar event with more than 10 rooms or 100 participants, according to the employee memo. The most likely explanation, the memo alleged, "is that this is an attempt of leadership to immediately learn about any workers organization attempts." A representative for Alphabet Inc.'s Google said, "These claims about the operation and purpose of this extension are categorically false. This is a pop-up reminder that asks people to be mindful before auto-adding a meeting to the calendars of large numbers of employees." The extension was prompted by an increase in spam around calendars and events, according to Google. It doesn't collect personally identifiable information, nor does it stop the use of calendars but rather adds a speed bump when employees are reaching out to a large group, the company said.
The rich and powerful want us scattered (Score:5, Insightful)
While you and me are arguing over paying a few bucks in Union dues every month they spend millions making sure we never get the chance.
cool story bro (Score:2)
hope you sell that screen play.
I find that difficult to believe. (Score:3, Insightful)
Very difficult. For one, how did he work from jail? You saying you can't be prosecuted when you are caught on film.
Details missing or exaggerated. And even though there are some stories like, but not quite as extreme, as that... that's just a psychotic characterization of union members based on what is evidently a corrupt organization managed by your wife.
And I've seen plenty of misbehavior in the IT world... both whiney employees at fault using HR, and expense report embezzlement, I have no doubt we coul
You gotta cut the GP some slack (Score:2)
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rsilvergun makes a claim, and Way Smarter then You proves him entirely correct with a couple of anecdotes.
It seems to have taken slightly more than half an hour for it to happen. Amazing.
I respect your resiliance (Score:3, Informative)
I do literally mean that I can't believe it... I'm not saying it's not true or you shouldn't believe it. As a matter of semantics, I have managed engineers since the 90s, and they and myself I consider working class since we have no trust fund to fall back on (many of us)... but I have not manage working class waiters. But I come from a working class familly, and as for them being all criminals, you can go fuck yourself even if your experiences are real, #notallworkingclass.
Theft on camera is prosecuted i
you characterized union members in a particular wa (Score:1)
you don't think so?
btw, I'm not triggered, I'm fed up. Benefit of the doubt used up.
You got me, I started programming in high school and that's how I paid for my philosophy degree and then that's all I've ever done as an adult. But I did work in a donut shop-bakery, a theater, and a cafeteria as a kid too... does that count?
Re: you characterized union members in a particula (Score:1)
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Do you know why it happens, why they are disloyal too you, why they are shitty workers, dude because you are your wife are arseholes and only arseholes will work for arseholes. The next bit is not for waste it's WAFTAM for you do not even try.
Small business want better employees treat them better, work with them, make them feel a part of the business, profit share with them, so the harder the work the more profit there is to share. You could never ever manage this, quite impossible for you greed will perve
Re: The rich and powerful want us scattered (Score:1)
This sir, is the greatest example of Poe's Law (Score:3)
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While you and me are arguing over paying a few bucks in Union dues every month
They already own the unions. You get nothing from paying your dues.
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What I find funny and a little hypocritical is Google's internal chrome browser for employees also use the popular adblock plugin which no employees have the ability to remove any of the several pre installed plugins.
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desperate and always at each other's throats. It seems like we never learn, but they do. They learned really well from the last round of labor organization. While you and me are arguing over paying a few bucks in Union dues every month they spend millions making sure we never get the chance.
And union bosses want closed shops and mandatory dues. And would desperately like to distract you into hating "the rich" which is anyone who makes more than you.
Trust Google (Score:2)
"It's just a helpful, mandatory, little extension to help curb calendar spam. We promise."
I wonder just how many Google employees are going to have Office 365 accounts now, hahaha!
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Google employees have a right to organize, but they don't have a right to do it during working hours while using Google's conference rooms for their meetings.
Google has the right to monitor what their employees are doing while they are on-the-clock.
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If your definition of right and wrong comes down to what the law allows, then you have already failed.
Re: Github now using ‘telemetry’ on us (Score:5, Informative)
The Workers are Absolutely Correct. (Score:5, Funny)
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Hahahaha, indeed. Useful (smart) idiots, the lot of them.
Google Spying? No way. (Score:4, Funny)
Yep (Score:2)
Not likely that is a spy tool (Score:5, Insightful)
If Google wanted to know is whether someone has a meeting for more than 100 people or 10 rooms, they would either scan the server for such meetings or have the server automatically log such meetings - they wouldn't need a client side plug-in. The client side plug-in is probably needed to warn the user before they schedule such large meetings, which can happen accidentally when inviting people on mailing lists or when forgetting to delete a bunch of rooms (I often add 100 rooms to a meeting just to see which ones are available, then delete 99 of them, but someone could forget) - that is the official explanation from Google which makes sense.
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They could do the second thing server side too.
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They could, but it might have been easier and load the server less to do it on the client side - warn the user before submitting the meeting to the server side.
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Well, my Microsoft Outlook warns me when I try to schedule meeting for large groups, or even send out an email to more than some threshold of people. It also warns me if my email has an email address outside of the company anywhere in the to/cc/bcc. I don't see it as intimidation, I actually find it helpful. I once sent out an email notification to thousands of people by accident because such warning was not present in the the online collaboration tool, and the UI was inconsistent - in one part of the tool,
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Over $100,000 per hour (Score:2)
That's true.
Also, with taxes, benefits, office space, etc on top of salary, the average Google employee costs the company close to $200,000 / year. Certainly more than $100,000.
After holidays and vacation time, employees "work" an average of just under 2,000 hours per year. (Where work includes browsing Slashdot, getting coffee, etc.). So the cost to Google is about $75-$100/hour per employee.
If you book a one-hour meeting with 120 people who each cost $100/hour, that meeting costs $120,000. It might not
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120 * 100 = 12,000
So it was only a $12,000 per hour meeting, unless you think the conference rooms for the meeting costs $108,000 per hour (in which case I want to be in a business to provide meeting rooms to Google), or that everyone in the meeting spent 10 hours of company time preparing for it.
Lol that's embarrassing. NyQuil (Score:2)
Of course. Well I feel silly.
Seriously? (Score:2)
If Google's employees are supposed to be the best & brightest in tech, why would they be using company email for labour organising? They shouldn't even be using company provided hardware (laptops & phones) for such things. If that's all they have to communicate & organise their lives with, maaan, they're gonna learn some hard lessons in corporate retaliation & how petty, vindictive, & utterly without empathy executives can be.
Organise outside of work hours, outside of work, on channels
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That needs a place to meet...
So union organizers and union representatives can come in. ie not trespassing and a place to meet workers.
A nontrespassory method to talk with employees.
Once an ad company workers go union, they go full union
Derp State (Score:2, Informative)
It's always good for a laugh when the Slashdot PatriotsTM try to accuse Google or Facebook or Amazon of having some leftist/liberal bias. As if the biggest corporations in the world are somehow left-leaning, in the face of all of the evidence being to the contrary.
Lately, candid comments from the CEOs of some of these corporations have let the mask slip and they showed their true colors. They exist to prop up authoritarians no matter what, because it helps them cultivate power and even greater wealth. Th
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Of course not. I'm just saying you should actually look at the behavior of these companies instead of the Fox News spin on whether or not they are liberal or conservative. Also, it's worth listening to the actual fucking words coming out of Zuckerberg's mouth.
https://youtu.be/dcIaD_IlF54 [youtu.be]
If you look at the actual behavior of Facebook, Google, etc, you will see that they are much more conciliatory toward right-wing
So now those Google employees (Score:3)
know what other people felt when being spied on by Google.
Isn’t Google’s motto “you have nothing to fear if you have nothing to hide”?
Good thing they got rid of their slogan (Score:4, Insightful)
Remember the "don't be evil days?"
They didn't use breakroom bullitin boards before. (Score:2)
Google (Score:2)
Do know evil.
They Dont need spyware (Score:2)
unions (Score:2)
I guess their model is cracking? (Score:2)
For years, it's been the strategy of the FAANG companies to hire the world's Ph. D's, keep them paid well enough to not quit, and provide every convenience for their lives to keep them at work as much as possible. Microsoft has taken this stance as well...keep the workers so busy and so wrapped in the all-inclusive blanket that they have no desire to leave or make trouble.
What's interesting is seeing this bargain become less compelling. Even with the truly nutty housing prices and cost of living in SV, Goog
They need a TEAM to write a Popup? (Score:2)
So the employees said they found a "team" working on a tool, but the Alphabet rep says it's just a popup warning. Who needs a team to write a popup?
I don't pretend to know what environment they're working in, but popups are usually pretty simple, quick endeavors, that don't generally require a whole team to write...
I believed them. Until... (Score:2)
"It doesn't collect personally identifiable information"
I don't believe there is a Google tool that doesn't at the very least try to do that.